Clinton Decries Violence In Northwestern Pakistan

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, on an Asian tour, condemned a suicide bomber for ramming his car into a U.S. government vehicle in northwestern Pakistan Monday, injuring two Americans.

Clinton said at the outset of a news conference in Jakarta that she wants to “very clearly condemn the attack on our consulate personnel in Peshawar, Pakistan.”

“We pray for the safe recovery of both American and Pakistani victims and once again we deplore the cowardly act of suicide bombing and terrorism that has affected so many around the world,” the secretary added.

Clinton said it was still too early in the investigation of the incident to talk in broad detail. She did tell reporters that it “appears that a van filled with both American and Pakistani personnel, as well as locally employed staff at the embassy site, were targeted by a suicide bomber who drove a vehicle into this van with the consequence that there were injuries of both Pakistanis and Americans in (the van) and on the ground.”